I rock climb and hike regularly and am an avid scuba diver. I also have a background in martial arts (Karate, Taekwondo and Kickboxing).
I am currently striving to increase my fitness in all aspects (strength, speed, endurance, flexibility, etc) and keep myself motivated by thinking of a survival situation (boat sinks in the middle of the ocean, hanging off the edge of a cliff, etc) and ask myself "Will I be able to survive this? ..and if not, what can I do to increase my odds?"

Dive Number : 158
In Series : 09
Site : Batee Tokong
Location : Pulau Weh, Acheh, Indonesia
Divecentre : Rubiah Tirta Divers
Divemasters : Atim & Ari (ID)
Surface Interval : 3h 45m
Leisure Dive #9
We descended into a field of gorgonian sea fans; the mesmerising swirls of juvenile emperor angelfish (Pomacanthus imperator), fire gobies, and pacific lionfish greeting us below. Shimmers of silver off in the blue made me wonder if I had glimpsed tuna in the distance. Scorpionfish and numerous nudibranchs (Phyllidia pustulosa) lay hidden in the coral below. The others saw sharks, but I missed them as I was too preoccupied looking down. We swung left and over the mound to the other side. Parrotfish were ubiquitous and were feeding on the rocks, various trumpetfish (yellow, Aulostomus maculatus; Chinese, A.chinensis; and a much thinner one, a flute trumpetfish?) swirled around, and a pair of black-tip sharks (Carcharhinus melanopterus) passed by, just 6-8 metres away. I spotted a shy peaco...

Dive Number : 157
In Series : 08
Site : The Canyon
Location : Pulau Weh, Acheh, Indonesia
Divecentre : Rubiah Tirta Divers
Divemasters : Atim & Ari (ID)
Surface Interval : 16h 58m
Leisure Dive #8
We descended into the blue, bignose unicornfish pairs (Naso vlamingii) playing with the bubbles, and swam towards the wall from the southern end of the divesite. The gorgonian sea fan-filled wall materialised out of the blue, moorish idols and sergeant majors flitting around below us to our right. We followed the wall, in awe at the beauty and size of the numerous fans, and passed channels that cut into the wall into the right. Giant morays could be seen below the clouds of sea goldies, the long feelers of lobsters poking out of crevices. Eventually Ari, Andy and I dropped back quite a distance from the others. Ari pointed out an area, which was what I had initially thought was the giant moray and lionfish below. But upon closer inspection, I saw a peacock flounder (Bothus mancus); the eyes...

Dive Number : 160
In Series : 11
Site : Batee Tokong
Location : Pulau Weh, Acheh, Indonesia
Divecentre : Rubiah Tirta Divers
Divemasters : Atim & Ari (ID)
Surface Interval : 2h 57m
Leisure Dive #11
We dropped into the blue and began to fin towards shark plateau (dive #128). We stopped near the 'doorway' and looked out into the blue. A solitary shape materialised briefly after a few minutes and was gone just as quickly as it had come. i was unsure whether it was a black- or white-tipped (or silver) shark as the vis was just too poor. We began to make our way towards Batee Tokong, remaining fairly deep for most of the way. Things started to pick up as we reached Batee Tokong, glimpsing a hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata), loads of giant moray eels, and a large amount of nudibranchs--including multiple black-margins (Glossodoris atromarginata) and Phyllidia pustulosas that were mating. There was an inordinate number of lionfish and scorpionfish that were in ideal positions for...

Dive Number : 159
In Series : 10
Site : Pantee Peunateung
Location : Pulau Weh, Acheh, Indonesia
Divecentre : Rubiah Tirta Divers
Divemasters : Atim & Ari (ID)
Surface Interval : 18h 50m
Leisure Dive #10
On the way to the site, we spotted a pod of dolphins from the boat, off in the distance. We swung around and went straight towards them, coming within a metre or two of them--the closest I have ever been! We watched them breach the surface for a while until they melted a way beneath the waves--perhaps the boat engine noise was more than they could bear! We descended into the blue, making our way south-west and caught glimmers of barracudas in the distance. Schools of yellow fusiliers (Caesio teres) and what I think were bluestreak fusiliers (Pterocaesio tile) swarmed us as we approached the wall to our left. Gorgonian sea fans were ubiquitous and completely covered the wall here, and we had to swim around and over them to maintain our south-westerly course. Triggerfish were quite c...

Dive Number : 156
In Series : 07
Site : West Rubiah
Location : Pulau Weh, Acheh, Indonesia
Divecentre : Rubiah Tirta Divers
Divemasters : Atim & Ari (ID)
Surface Interval : 2h 9m
Leisure Dive #7
Most of the others decided to take a break from diving so it was just Cass, Andy, and myself. As such, we decided to take it nice and easy at the macro capital of Weh--West Rubiah (the same place we spotted the Harlequin shrimps a year ago, dive #138). There seemed to be loads of smaller juveniles of various species: tiny red-toothed triggers, and a few small saddled tobys (Canthigaster valentini) - a cute but very poisonous pufferfish. We encountered multiple Chromodoris elisabethinas fairly soon after, of various sizes, their brachial plume a vivid orange that made it look as if their bums were on fire! Phyllidia pustulosas and P.varicosas were common--one of the latter the length of my finger, easily 10cm long!--and we also came upon the orange black P.ocellata. Coral-banded cleaner shrim...

Dive Number : 154
In Series : 05
Site : Pantee Peunateung
Location : Pulau Weh, Acheh, Indonesia
Divecentre : Rubiah Tirta Divers
Divemasters : Atim & Ari (ID)
Surface Interval : 13h 26m
Leisure Dive #5
We initially had planned to go to the canyon but switched at the last minute. There were initially two boats (including ours) at the site but by the time we had entered the water, the number had increased to seven! We planned to follow the crescent-shaped reef by following it southwards, but had to swim quite a distance in the blue as we were a little off the mark. Gradually the reef began to materialise in-front of us, and with it, the masses of huge gorgonian sea fans! We followed the reef west, and then south-west, and then south, as it curved around; the backdrop spectacular with the fans and green coral, and silhouettes of the blue and black triggerfish. Two huge barracudas (Sphyraena sp.), each easily 1.5 metres in length, could also be seen way off in the distance. Atim spotte...

Dive Number : 152
In Series : 03
Site : Arus Paleeh
Location : Pulau Weh, Acheh, Indonesia
Divecentre : Rubiah Tirta Divers
Divemasters : Atim (ID)
Surface Interval : 2h 1m
Leisure Dive #3
The dive site was changed right at the last minute from East Seulako as we spotted four boats there upon approaching. West Seulako already had two, so we just decided to stop in the channel and dive at Arus Paleeh instead, my tenth time there! As I descended, I sneezed three times in succession, they were thunderous but when looking around it seemed as if no one had noticed. The bottom was covered in gorgonian sea fans, their silhouettes one of the few things that could be seen, as the vis at the beginning was closer to five metres. We spotted several interesting creatures not too long into the dive: an octopus, several Chinese trumpetfish, and loads of giant moray eels scattered about. The vis was pretty bad throughout, and the current began to pick up later in the dive, so there were times where...

Dive Number : 155
In Series : 06
Site : East Seulako
Location : Pulau Weh, Acheh, Indonesia
Divecentre : Rubiah Tirta Divers
Divemasters : Atim & Ari (ID)
Surface Interval : 2h 4m
Leisure Dive #6
The sea was pretty choppy upon arriving so we kitted up quickly and entered the water. The conditions were super calm upon entering.. we descended down to the triangular boulder and made our way down to the 20 metre mark and turned left to head north. A gentle current carried us along, and I had my eyes glued to the wall, intently looking for small critters. There were plenty of nudis including an adult of the one that I had encountered on the last dive, and the usual phyllidias. There were plenty of lionfish and the occasional scorpionfish and bluefin trevallies swimming around. The seascape and the numerous silhouettes of red-toothed triggerfish, and the gentle current that carried us along was very relaxing, and almost no effort was required to move along. We drifted slowly into the safe...

Dive Number : 151
In Series : 02
Site : Batee Tokong
Location : Pulau Weh, Acheh, Indonesia
Divecentre : Rubiah Tirta Divers
Divemasters : Atim & Ari (ID)
Surface Interval : 2h 3m
Leisure Dive #2
The bus was quite bad as we descended into a massive 'sea' of red-toothed triggerfish (Odonus niger)--they were absolutely everywhere! The coral below was absolutely covered in giant moray eels; at one point I counted nine individual giant moray and two red lionfish, all within an area of just 5m2! There was an absolutely massive giant moray eel alone, tucked into a little cave of sorts, and was surrounded by several coral banded cleaner shrimps (Stenopus hispidicus), just after we had spotted another octopus. Atim, the DM, found a tiny boxer crab (Lybia sp.), just millimetres across, that I managed to take a photo of, and there were a lot of nudibranchs (Phyllidiella pustulosa mainly) and a few that I have not encountered before. We spotted lobsters, their long feelers sticking out of crev...

Dive Number : 153
In Series : 04
Site : Rubiah Jetty
Location : Pulau Weh, Acheh, Indonesia
Divecentre : Rubiah Tirta Divers
Divemasters : Ari (ID)
Surface Interval : 3 hours
Leisure Dive #4
Night dive! Following the AoW students. ended up focused on entangling a long fishing line from the coral for at least the first few minutes, before actually starting the dive. The dive itself was not too spectacular, especially by Weh standards but we did see a fair amount of different creatures: scorpionfish and lionfish, both adults and juveniles, were scattered around, as were various types of trumpetfish and several types of boxfish. Sea cucumbers were everywhere--at one point the DM shockingly squeezed one to make it emit something, but nothing seemed to happen and he put it back down before continuing on--and sea urchins were ubiquitous! We made our way to the playground and the car husk (mentioned in dive #122) where we saw the two-horned thornback boxfish (Lactoria fomasini) and the hug...

Dive Number : 137
In Series : 23
Site : Sophie Rickmers Wreck
Location : Pulau Weh, Aceh, Indonesia
Divecentre : Rubiah Tirta
Divemasters : Isfan (ID)
Divebuddy : Fiona Wong Gui Xiang (MY)
Surface Interval :17h 40m
After so many trips to Weh, I finally found a chance to dive Sophie's Wreck! We made our way south to the bay that hosted the 134-metre long wreck, scuttled by its own crew to prevent capture way back in 1940. Clouds lined the southern sky, leaving the bay gloomy with an eerie, almost ominous feel. The sun peaked through the clouds once in a while, giving us a little tease with its bright and warm rays. We descended slowly down the front moor-line, with schools of curious longfin batfish (Platax theira) emerging from the gloom to investigate our sudden presence. Most were adults, with their dark blotch above the ventral fin, having grown into the dorsals, but juveniles with elongated dorsals would also occasionally appear. The wreck emerged very suddenly and unexpectedly, leaving me a little surprised. Swam out a little from the bow, already >30m deep, just to take a wide-angle shot of the group before joining the rest once again. Swam slowly across the spooky open hulls, making our way to the decks, around 45m down. Started to feel a little strange at this point, and everything was a little surreal: the looming wreck and silhouettes of lots of batfish outlining the inky blackness of the depths. After about 24 minutes, we began our slow ascent, reaching the 5m mark after 12 minutes, spending about 13 minutes there and then up to 3m for another 35 minutes, sharing a tank on the moor-line. Spotted a small crab on the rope.

Dive Number : 108
In Series : 06
Site : The Couldron (aka 'Shotgun' with current)
Location : Komodo National Park, Flores, Indonesia
Divecentre : Sea Safari 7 (LoB)
Divemasters : Gusti (ID)
Divebuddy : Fiona Wong Gui Xiang (MY) & Geetha Anbalagan (MY)
Surface Interval : 3h 26m
We made our way to the channel in-between Gili Lawa Darat and Laut and immediately noticed the purple nudi-like nodes on the corals. Boxfish, schools of Moorish Idols, and huge Titan Triggerfish were scattered around all the table corals (Acropora pulchra). We slowed down and stopped for a while in an alcove where seven giant trevally (Caranx ignobilis) floated above us way above, the sunlight shimmering across their silver bodies. We turned around and entered the mini wall of the couldron, turning anticlockwise. This is when four large devil rays (Mobula tarapacana) appeared overhead, swimming in line, their pectoral wings almost synchronised. The current began to pick up and pulled us eastwards. As we did, we spotted a white reef manta (Manta alfredi) hovering in place. We swung in and hooked ourselves into the reef, just over a metre away from the manta. We stayed there for a while admiring the stunning spectacle in-front of us, the size and grace keeping us spellbound. Saw sharks, porcupinefish and a turtle at the end!

Dive Number : 106
In Series : 04
Site : Crystal Rock
Location : Komodo National Park, Flores, Indonesia
Divecentre : Sea Safari 7 (LoB)
Divemasters : Gusti (ID)
Divebuddy : Fiona Wong Gui Xiang (MY) & Geetha Anbalagan (MY)
Surface Interval : 11h 14m
Negative entry into the famed Crystal Rock site. Glorious, awe-inspiring seascapes as soon as we entered the water, with huge swirling schools of fusiliers and longfin bannerfish. A ridiculous amount of batfish, huge starry-eyed puffers and porcupinefish were seen. Pyramid butterflyfish (Hemitaurichthys polylepsis) also mingled about. At one point, with all of our eyes glazed over by the magnificent vis, the "ting ting ting" sound alerted us to a curious white-tipped reef shark (Trigenodon obesus) but the sound continued on for a few minutes as the DMs pointed here, twisted around and pointed somewhere else instead. Two huge Malabar groupers (Epinephelus malabaricus), a small group of tuna, a massive humphead wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus) were seen. sharks were spotted every few minutes (total of six times!). Schools of Longfin batfish-with black marks above the the ventral fins- (Platax teira) and a massive starry puffer that I swam along with (50cm away) were also seen. Three pygmy seahorses (Hippocampus bargibanti) in just one seafan, a crayfish under a ledge, and shallowing up amongst superb table formations.

Dive Number : 89
In Series : 08
Site : East Seulako
Location : Pulau Weh, Aceh, Indonesia
Divecentre : Rubiah Tirta Divers
Divemasters : Amir & De (ID)
Divebuddy : Fiona Wong Gui Xiang (MY)
Surface Interval : 2h 42m
East Seulako is normally a drift dive along the east coast of the tiny Seulako island. The current direction coiuldn't be determined so we started midway in order to follow the current, whihc turned out to head northwards. The divesite consisted of a soley wall of boulders that were speckled with nudis. Unicorn fish and morays swam around and pufferfish and boxfish were everywhere. There were several featherstars that contained tiny crinoid shrimps that Amir pointed out and a massive grouper that De spotted. There was a blue-spotted stingray and an eagleray! The eagleray began to swim away as soon as it saw us, slowly and gracefully gliding off into the deep blue. Such a pleasure to watch! There hadn't been much current till then but there was after we began to shallow up, and began to head southwards instead. We glided along effortlessly until the 5m mark where we did our safety stop.

Dive Number : 68
In Series : 12
Site : Underwater Volcano
Location : Pulau Weh, Aceh, Indonesia
Divecentre : Rubiah Tirta Divers
Divemasters : Syamz (MY)
Divebuddy : Fiona Wong Gui Xiang (MY)
Surface Interval : 26m
We were surprised as we found the surface of the divesite filled with red jellyfish when we arrived (somewhat similar in shape and hue with the ones found in jellyfish lake, although these ones sting!). We jumped in nonetheless (syamz most likely regretted that since he ended up getting stung on the head!). We descended trying to avoid them as best we could, all the way down to the hot, bubbling, hydrothermal vents. We swam around the vents and jellyfish for a while, Syamz having to exit the water early from the pain, and I looked after the rest until I was almost out of air. A black-spotted pufferfish swam around us watching us curiously as we made our safety stop. The combination of the vents and the jellyfish was almost magical!

Spartan Race Sprint Malaysia 2015
http://community.tribesports.com/users/dredwerkz/training_sessions/395782
Ran the Spartan Sprint barefoot in just over an hour without any burpees as punishment.. and without any training! Woohoo!

Dive Number : 46
In Series : 01
Site : Low Cave
Location : Rottnest Island, WA, Australia
Divecentre : Fremantle Sailing Club (FSC)
Divemasters : Benjamin Kneer (DE)
Divebuddy : Benjamin Kneer (DE)
I was pretty excited to be able to test my new dive gear (everything but the regulator) and to try prescription mask for the first time! The beginning of the dive was all about swim-throughs..caves, tunnels, drops, ledges, of all shapes and forms (the first drop happened almost immediately upon entry!). The highlight of the dive was a pair of very large (possibly 2m including the venomous stinger) Australian Bull Rays (Myliobatis australis). The rays hovered just above the kelp, more like glided, with their rounded wing tips flurrying (like a wave passed through). They were (or at least seemed) curious as they lingered around and circled the area. Towards the end, we spotted (a much less curious!) a large (2.5m) Grey Nurse Shark (Cacharias taurus) that darted into a cave. The water seemed to get much colder towards the end of the dive.

DSC_5117

Dive Number : 43 Site : The Pinnacle (Tokong Laut) Location : Perhentian Island, Terengganu, Malaysia Divecentre : Turtle Bay Divers Divemasters : Azwan (MY) & Katrien (BE) Divebuddy : Lesly Leon Lee (MY) Surface Interval : 2h 48m
Really awesome dive, we were alone with great vis at Perhentian's best divesite! As we spiralled around the outcrop, we saw a HUGE variety of marine wildlife including two very large starry pufferfish, both the fine-spotted and black-spotted porcupinefish & a tiny yellow boxfish. There were several blue spotted stingrays, white-eyed morray eels, bamboo sharks hiding under rocks, lionfish hiding upside down under coral outcrops, huge schools of yellowsnappers that Lesly kept on swimming through, golden travallys and a group of squid in the distance, Titan triggerfish, long-tailed bannerfish, and a solitary juvenile batfish that I followed for a while. We also saw a huge (10 cm?) nudibranch (funeral joruna) near the end. Great last dive!
Divebuddies : Lesly Leon Lee (MY)http://www.movescount.com/moves/move18117797
http://www.scubaearth.com/log-a-dive/dive-log-display.aspx?divesiteid=-1&divelogid=45895&importdiveid=-1

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Dive Number : 31
Site : Tokong Burung
Location : Tenggol Island, Terengganu, Malaysia
Divecentre : Discovery Divers
Divemasters : Daniel Liew
Divebuddies : Mariano Fernandez (VE)
Surface Interval : 2h 37m
New dive site and an awesome one at that! Was glad that the viz improved as the coral, the diversity and topography, was great! The dive was basically a walldive where we traced (part of) the circumference
of a rocky outcrop. Dive buddy was Mariano but we lagged behind and ended up 'merging' with the 'Advanced' students group that Daniel and Christine were leading. There was a school of Yellow-Tail Fusiliers
at the beginning of the dive as well as lots of Parrotfish and Clownfish/Anemone around. There were several Crown of Thorns (CoTs) around (3 to be exact). Followed the reefs contour and towards the end of the
dive came upon a large Batfish that circled around me several times, and it was all caught on the GoPro! :)